Thursday, October 24, 2013

Note: Adel and Adelfo are not one and the same person. Adel is the guy behind the SuppVersity. Adelfo Cerame is the wheelchair BB who has documented his past contest preps here.

My Progress and back development this off-season

Author: Adelfo Cerame Jr., Wheelchair Pro Bodybuilder

I’m Back! "I", that's me, Adelfo Cerame and "back" means - at least for now "Just for today…" but who knows what the future has in stock for us ;-)

I know it’s been a while but I’ve just been really busy nowadays and to be honest it’s just been really tough to come up with new topics to talk about nowadays so I figure I would give my SuppVersity following an update on my off season progress as well as training and diet.

Training: This is how I train

I’ve kept my training regimen pretty simple, focusing on compound lifts (for me that would be just your bench press and seated row), and accessory work to help me improve my main lifts, so nothing too fancy or much different from what I used to do previously (read more in Adelfo's previous guestposts). I’ve learned that I can get much more frequency and volume accomplished by keeping my lifts simple. I may only perform 4-5 exercises per training session but I get a lot accomplished volume alone, and frequency.

My main focus this off-season has been my back, so I’ve been frequently hitting my back with rows, rows, ... and rows ;-) And it's finally paying off: I’ve been really able to see the progress in my back development come up, and I really feel it’s due to the frequency and volume I’ve been training them at.
As you will see below, I have one heavy pull exercise (Pull Day 1) and one heavy push exercise (Push Day 4), and the rest of my exercises consists of higher reps/volume. I implement RPE’s (learn more here) into my training so there are no given sets on most of my exercises since the volume is auto regulated.

RPE Training = Let your Rate of Perceived Exertion be your guide:
I wrote a brief description of RPE training in one of my past blogs (read it!) but
if you’re interested in learning more about auto regulated training; I
suggest checking out Reactive- TrainingSystems.com by Mike Tuchscherer.

The RPE (=rate of perceived exertion) determines the weight/intensity and sets I complete per exercise and will eventually determine the overall volume I do for the day.

Some more pullin' ;-)

Push Workouts

Pull Workouts

If you’re curious why I have one pull exercise on my push days is because again my focus this off season is bringing up my back, so any opportunity I can get to add frequency to my back, ill take advantage of, plus I rest in between most my training session, so I feel I get enough time to recover.

Nutrition - This is how I eat

Well, You guys’ are probably wondering if I’m still following an intermittent style fasting protocol, but nowadays I’m more on a "eat when I want" type protocol but still taking into account my caloric intake and macronutrient goals for the day.

I’ve really seen no benefit with doing an IF style protocol during my off-season especially while being on a caloric surplus.

But me being a creature of habit, I do still tend to have my first meals around noon but not by choice but by convenience and life schedules, however if I can get a chance or feel like eating earlier in the day, I’ll eat.

As of now my numbers look like this: So these are the ranges I’m hitting during my off-season but I
usually tend to eat more as well, so if I’ve hit my numbers for the day
and I find myself still wanting to eat something, then I’ll eat ;-)

Kcal: 2700-2800

Fats: 60-80g

Carbs: 350-400g

Protein: 190-220g

Fiber: 25-55g

It has been 6 months post contest so far and I have about 6 or so months left to go until I start preparing for my first pro debut which would be the Houston Pro next October of 2014.

That’s the show I’m aiming for but again I would have to check in with coach Alberto to evaluate my progress and see if I’ve made the improvements I needed to, to be able to compete. I’m not just looking to fill a spot on stage, I want to be competitive, so if I’m not ready, then I’ll prolong my off-season until I am ready. This has been the longest off-season so far for me.

This is actually my first "real" off season

Like I mentioned in previous blogs; I’ve never really got the opportunity to experience a true off-season just due to always prepping for shows and being sidelined for a year in 2010. This year I’ve really benefitted from this off-season so far because I’ve put my body in a great environment to build strength and grow (environment as in finding a healthy body composition that’s maintainable and that your body can agree with, and embracing a little bit more body fat in order to provide cushion for the joints to support the heavy loads I’m trying to lift). And just allowing myself a longer off-season is just giving my body time to get stronger and time to get bigger.

-- Your's Truly, Adelfo Cerame ;-)

A final note from the editor: If you want leave Adelfo a message or question in the comment area. I am pretty sure he will be happy to chime in on whatever you want to discuss - Adel

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